[ Directed by ]

[ Produced by ]

[ Cast ]

[ Staff ]

[ Production Company ]

SHOCHIKU

[ Distributor (Japan) ]

SHOCHIKU

[ Story ]

In 1946, Yoshio Nonaka, a repatriate, becomes a day laborer with a road construction gang in Yamanashi Prefecture. His wages are small and he must support his wife Torae, only son Toshiyuki, and his aged parents.
Torae becomes a handy woman at the office of a construction company to add a little to the family income.
In 1952, Yoshio's drinking companion Mochizuki suffers a stroke and one day he puts him on a cart and takes him to view the cherry flowers. On the way Yoshio meets Chiyo, his first love, and now a widow.
Yoshio's son Toshiyuki graduates from Kofu Senior High School and enters Kyoto University. This makes Yoshio and Torae happy but it is not an easy matter for a day laborer to put his son through a university and Yoshio cuts his drinking by half and Torae economizes on food.
Toshiyuki works at part-time jobs but the going is difficult. Among those who encourage him is a young woman, Miyoko Ishikawa. One day he decides to leave school but when he returns home, his father is angry and tells him to overcome all hardships and graduate.
In 1962, the commencement exercises are held for the graduating class that includes Toshiyuki, and Yoshio and Torae, watch their son's graduation with the utmost happiness, feeling amply rewarded for the long years of toil and suffering.